


A Week before Christmas

by Common_fan_writes



Series: Batfam Moments [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Original Work
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Sorry I find myself unable to write happy things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21806164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Common_fan_writes/pseuds/Common_fan_writes
Series: Batfam Moments [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1571305
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. Midterms

Jason walked into the living room, only to stumble upon two brain-dead brothers, who looked as if they’d pulled several all-nighters.

”What happened to you?” Jason questioned. ~~Although he might not admit it, he cared about their health~~.

”Midterms,” Tim replied, as if that explained everything.

”So?”

”I don’t want to fail them!” Tim yelled in a harsh, stressed tone he only used when he hadn’t slept.

“Tim,” Jason responded, looking him dead in the eye, “why would you ever fail a simple midterm?”

“I don’t know! I’ve just missed so many days, and I haven’t studied because of work and-”

“Seriously, Tim?”

“What?”

“The only reason I can think of for you failing midterms is you not gettin enough sleep, which is clearly the case at the moment,” Jason pointed out. He turned to look at the other brother, Richard, who had fallen asleep. “Same case with him?”

Tim looked at Richard.

“I don’t know. He’s not in school anymore.”

“Right, yeah. He got a job.”

Tim looked offended. “He graduated. He didn’t just get a job and drop out of school.”

“I don’t pay attention to what school you’re going to! All I have to do with it is forcing you guys to get books from their library because I can’t get them myself!”

“Right. I forgot. There’s another one on the counter, by the way.”

“Really?” Jason turned to find it, only to stop when Tim snickered. He glared at Tim. “What?”

“It’s like you’re a completely different person every time a book gets mentioned. It’s kind of amusing to be able to make you change your demeanor just by mentioning books.”

“Shut up.”

Tim sighed and turned his attention back to his work. Ignoring him, Jason ran, grabbed the book, placed it in his room, and turned back to find the others. Cass wasn’t too hard to find; she was hanging out with Steph. 

“Hey, Cass,” Jason greeted. Cass smiled and waved. 

“What do we do?” Steph asked in distress. “He’s going to find out about our plan!”

Cass nodded and turned to look at Jason. 

“Go,” she commanded. 

“I’m hurt,” Jason responded. Steph glared at him. He decided it was better to leave than be a victim of whatever they were planning now.

Jason found Demon Brat later in the day. The little brat was calmly drawing... something. It was strange to see him without a scowl on his face. Of course, as soon as Jason entered the room, that changed. 

“What do you want, Todd?” Damian questioned in his normal irritated voice.

“None of your concern, Short Stack,” said Jason. 

“Tt.”

Damian got back to drawing. Was there really no one who would pay much attention to him? Did forget that he wouldn’t be here for Christmas? Jason tried not to let it bother him. They all had their own lives to worry about. Besides, he was a jerk to them all. They wouldn’t care anyway, and it was all because of him.

He tried to escape the feeling of loneliness by reading the book Tim had gotten for him, but a numb feeling of bitterness still lingered. Jason refused to let it affect his mood too much. He still joked around with the family when given the chance, but that grew harder when people began to get to bed.

Yeah, they had definitely forgotten that he was leaving. Nothing he could do about it now.


	2. Chaos of Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry!!! I got caught up in personal crap and couldn’t upload. I hope you all can understand.
> 
> Sorry again. I will try not to let it happen again, but I cannot guarantee it will never happen.
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and I’ll try to be more consistent in the future.

Tim, to nobody’s surprise, passed his midterms with flying colors. Damian passed his midterms as well, which didn’t shock anyone either—they were only surprised he didn’t get into any trouble that week. Cass and Steph caused chaos. Richard and Bruce both worked hard for their jobs. Alfred was on vacation. Everyone was in the holiday spirit.

Everyone except Jason.

Jason packed his things quietly. He doubted anyone would even notice when he left. It didn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t going to change anything.

Of course, Jason was completely incorrect in this assumption. Almost as soon as he left, everything suddenly changed in the manor. Steph’s prank went wrong, causing Damian, the victim, to only get irritated with her. He started chasing her around the house, looking for blood. 

“Timber!”

Everyone heard Richard yell, and they all immediately became aware that somewhere in the manor, Tim had collapsed, probably due to lack of sleep this time, or maybe it was because of the thirty-something expressos he consumed during exam week. Cass was the closest to Tim, so she was the one who helped him to his room.

Moments after Tim’s collapse, a crash rang through the manor, the tell-tale sign of Richard breaking another chandelier. Richard was forced to clean up his own mess with Alfred not here (though he might’ve been forced to anyway), which was certainly a plan for disaster. Richard, amazing as he is, sometimes had trouble with that stuff, especially near Christmas.

A few crashes later and Steph and Damian landed at the bottom of the steps, Steph almost impaled with Damian’s sword. The ground definitely wasn’t just _almost_ impaled, as there was a huge scrape running through it, up until an inch or two next to Stephanie where the sword was stabbed into the ground.

It probably wouldn’t have been as chaotic if Barbara were here, but she was spending time with Commissioner Gordon. Maybe if Bruce had been around, it would’ve have gone this far downhill. If _anyone_ else had been around, it might have been a less chaotic day, but the house was left in the hands of irresponsible idiots.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling he aster in this.

Soon, the manor was mostly destroyed, with no one to stop it from getting worse, and this, ladies and gentlemen (and pineapples and helicopters(or whatever you identify as)), is what Bruce Wayne had to walk into his home to find. A few windows were broken, so he was already expecting chaos. When he entered, he was welcomed by a completely trashed front room full of five different kids.

As soon as they saw him, they started explaining.

“Damian-”

“Dick-”

“Steph-”

“Drake collapsed.” 

“-he almost impaled me- ”

“I’M SO SORRY BRUCE!”

“-I ALMOST DIED! ”

“Sorry.” 

“-the chandelier- ” 

“Just fix it,” Bruce cut in, causing them all to quiet down immediately. Damian was the first to speak.

“Tt. Fine.” Damian left, pondering how to fix the floor.

“I guess I should fix the upstairs hallway,” Stephanie stated before leaving the room as well.

“What kind of chandelier was this?” 

“I’ll order a replacement. Just clean up the mess.”

“HOW COULD YOU EVER FORGIVE ME!?”

“Just clean up he mess and be done with it. I’m going to my room, and by the time I get back, I expect this all to be clean.” 

So clean they did, with many a complaint and a little mischief.


	3. The Unexpected

Tim, of course, had no clue what to expect when he exited his room. Feeling quite rested, he sat up and stretched with a tired yawn. The time was five in the afternoon, so he knew he’d been sleeping for a while. When he opened his room door, he immediately noticed the wrecked hallway, where Stephanie was muttering to herself.

“The paint didn’t even get on him!”

Tim elected to ignore it and moved on with his life. It was probably better that way. At least, that’s what he though until he walked past the front room, noticing the scattered bits of chandelier everywhere.

“What on earth happened?”

“Uh...” Richard trailed off. “Lots of stuff?”

“And what about the floor?”

“Damian.”

“Of course it was Demon Spawn.”

“Steph, too.”

“Really? She should know better.”

“She provoked him.”

“Oh, I see. That’s what the paint was about.”

“Uh... yeah.”

Tim left the room, picking his way carefully to the kitchen. He wondered how Jason was involved in all this mess. When he thought about it, he realized that there weren’t any bullet holes around. Besides, Jason probably would’ve woken him up with all his racket. Where was he?

Tim started making his coffee. You can never go wrong with coffee, right? Actually, you can go wrong with coffee in many ways. You have to get it just right in order for it to actually taste good, with just enough caffeine to keep you awake. Tim was mildly surprised that he even remembered the last time he slept, but that was only because he just woke up.

After a while, Tim grew concerned about the absence of Jason. Normally, something would have happened that revolved around him by now, but there wasn’t any chaos. No one else in the house seemed to know his location either, and it wasn’t long before Tim figured out that he’d left the manor. Tim, of course, was distressed. He did not wish for Jason to disappear, and he wondered where he could have gone off to before he realized that Jason had told him. How could he have forgotten that Jason would be away for Christmas? Tim couldn’t forgive himself. He searched and searched until he’d located Jason, and once he did so, he made his way there quickly.

He arrived at where Jason was staying shortly, and he paused quickly to knock on the door before entering without waiting for a response. They were brothers.

“Tim, what the heck? I thought you knew I was going undercover.” 

“You left without saying goodbye,” Tim reasoned, as if that explained everything. “Besides, it’s Christmas. All the villains will be on break, anyway.” 

“The hell makes you think that?” 

“Yes, maybe the hell does.” 

“Tim, why?” 

“Why not?” Tim asked. “What was I supposed to do, let you spend Christmas break feeling unloved and unwanted?” 

“Just leave me alone and get back to whatever you were doing.” 

“But you’re more important!” 

“Than what?” 

“...sleep.” 

“Tim.” 

“No.” 

“Why?” 

“Come back to us.” 

“But I was going undercov-” 

“Come. Back.” 

“Fine! Be like that! Act like Dick!” 

“If you insist.” 

Jason groaned and left to get his stuff. There was no arguing with Tim when he got like this, and soon, they were back at the familiar manor doors.


	4. Cookies

They were at the manor, again.

Of course, the first one to greet them was Dick.

What did Jason expect, a peaceful entry?

Life wouldn’t give him one that simply.

The moment the door opened, Richard tackled Jason into one of his inescapable bear hugs.

“Jason!!! I’m so glad you’re back!!! I thought you’d be gone for forever!”

“You’re uncontrollable around Christmas. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I do,” said Richard innocently, “and I don’t care.”

“Of course,” Jason sighed. “I could be undercover getting work done.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll make sure I work for five times as long as you do,” Tim threatened.

“Seriously, Tim?”

“What? It makes you listen.”

“You do care about us!” Richard exclaimed. “Not that I ever had any doubt.”

“That’s it; I’m leaving.”

“But Jason,” Richard protested, looking at Jason with the biggest puppy-dog eyes.

“Fine!”

“The manor would fall apart without you,” Tim reasoned.

“Really?” Jason seemed unimpressed.

“Yes, really. Look no farther than the upstairs hallway.”

“Actually, Steph fixed that.”

“What happened?”

“Pranks gone wrong,” Richard explained quickly.

“Oh,” Jason and Tim jinxed.

“I made cookies!” Richard exclaimed.

Jason and Tim exchanged glances.

“Are they edible?” Jason questioned.

“Jason!” Richard whined. “I’m not stupid enough to know you guys hate my cooking. Dami helped.”

“Are they poisoned?” Tim wondered.

“He doesn’t hate you that much!”

“Yeah, sure.”

“You know, you could at least try to be nice to him,” Richard stated.

“I know I could, but I won’t until he’s nice to me.”

“He made cookies.”

“You probably forced him to.”

“...Kind of...”

“See?”

“I’m with the midget here,” Jason said.

“Thanks, Jason,” came Tim’s mostly sarcastic reply.

“You’re welcome.”

“Tt. What is Todd doing here?”

“Dami, it’s his home too. Be nice.”

“I’d rather die than be nice to Todd.”

“I’d rather die than stay here with you,” Jason said.

“I can help you with that,” Damian offered.

“I’m with Jason,” said Tim.

“Guys, stop!”

“Why?” they all responded in sync.

“Just be nice and have cookies, okay?” Richard offered them a cookie.

“Like I’m touching something Demon Spawn got his hands on.”

“Full offense, but I’m not eating anything you made.”

“Jaybird! I’m hurt.”

“You should be.”

“Tt,” Damian said. “Be glad I allowed you to bake with me.”

“Okay,” Richard replied, head hung low.

“Great, look at what you’ve done,” Jason commanded. “He’s visibly depressed now.”

“Tt. ‘Sorry’ Grayson.”

“Wait, Demon Spawn knows how to apologize without specifically being told to do so? I’m surprised.”

“Shut it, Drake.”

Jason ignored them and tried he cookies, which were actually pretty good.


	5. Decorating

Decorating at the manor was pretty chaotic. Sure, it was always chaotic, but decorating was something they all wondered how they managed to accomplish. They decided to divide and conquer, which would have been the best option, if not for the lack of skill in decorating some of them possessed and the horrible tendency of theirs to cause chaos no matter what.

Soon, the Christmas tree had been set up only to be knocked down. The lights had been hung only to entangle Richard inside of them. The wreaths had been hung only to get tossed away by the cold winter blizzard, which relentlessly blew leaves of any nearby trees.

Jason couldn’t help but feel slightly irritated about the chaos which always seemed to unfold. Why couldn’t they have one peaceful day?

Jason knew he shouldn’t expect much peace while living with this family. Why he ever came back he often wondered until he remembered the feelings of loneliness and anger that refused to leave him be. The anger was still burning inside of him. The loneliness still made him feel outcast. But it was much better when he faced the negative emotions around people who’d experienced much worse. After all, they’d suffered because of him.

He would only make hem suffer more at the rate he was going. Lucky him.

“Uh, Jason?” Tim’s voice knocked him out of his thoughts. “A little help please?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” Jason replied before moving to help the midget hang decorations.

Together, they worked in silence for a while. It wasn’t an awkward kind of silence, just silence. It was something strange to find anywhere at the manor.

“Jason?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like being back?”

“Of course I do,” Jason answered. “It’s fine when everyone stops being idiotic for two seconds and we can get stuff done.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Why do you ask?”

“I just feel like you’re uncomfortable around us. You left without even saying goodbye.”

“That wasn’t your fault; I was just feeling like a jerk that day.”

“It didn’t seem like that.”

“I guess I’m hard for the greatest detective I know to figure out?”

Tim blushed, embarrassed at the sudden compliment. “Y-you know Batman.”

“So? He’s not as good as you.”

“He’s amazing.”

“Amazingly jerkish. It’s amazing how someone can be so rude and emotionally constipated. If he were a good father, he would be decorating with us.”

Tim paused for a good moment before continuing to decorate. “It’s not his fault. His parents died when he was young and he was left with Alfred as a father figure. Alfred’s amazing and all, but emotions aren’t really a common thing he shows until you get to know him.”

“Yeah, sure. ‘I’m the prefect little child, blah blah blah, Bruce is great. Sorry, but I don’t listen to that bull-”

“Jason.”

“What?”

“You’re getting angry again. Also, the swear jar is on the counter, in case you want to add money to it.”

Jason sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just decorate.”

And so they did without another word.


	6. Alfred’s Replacement

CRASH! The silence was interrupted by a loud noise, announcing the screw-up of Richard Grayson. A lot of the decorations had been knocked over, including some of the ones which were there year-round.

“Tt. Grayson, I warned you.” 

“Sorry, Dami.” 

Jason stared at the mess, realizing just now that he was the only one with any sense here at the moment, and that said a lot.

“How about you two just go hang out someplace where you won’t cause the rest of us frustration,” Jason suggested.

“Sorry, Jason.”

“Tt. Fine.” But Damian still looked guilty.

“Good. Steph, go decorate with Cass,” Jason commanded.

“Okay!” Steph really seemed excited to be told that they weren’t dividing as much. (She had been one room over from Richard and Damian.)

“‘Kay Tim, let’s do this.” 

“Uh... yeah, sure.” 

“You okay?” 

“It’s just strange everyone listened to you.” 

“I’m just that awesome,” Jason stated. “Do you think you can handle the rest of the decorations with Cass and Steph? I’m going to make Christmas dinner, and we’re going to _try_ icing cookies as a family, but that’s going to be chaotic. I also have gingerbread houses we can decorate.” 

Tim laughed. “I can handle decorating.” 

“What’s so funny?” 

“Not that anyone could replace him, it just sometimes feels like you’re Alfred’s replacement over Christmas break.” 

Jason paused. He hadn’t though about it, but he did seem to be the one who stopped the chaos from happening. 

Well, being Alfred’s temporary replacement was better than doing Richard’s job of being the glue.


	7. Christmas

Christmas day was amazing. Barbara joined them for icing cookies and the gingerbread house competition (Jason won). They all opened presents together after a nice breakfast, which had been prepared the night before by Jason. He really did feel as though he were replacing Alfred, as he’d prepared almost everything they did.

Though Alfred would’ve done better. 

Jason watched the others as their happy faces floated around him. Damian kept scowling. Tim seemed distracted with his thoughts. Other than them, everyone was smiling. 

Jason focused on Cass’ smile. If only everyone could have a smile like hers. Bright and genuine, it lit up the room.

Richard’s wasn’t genuine.

Barbara’s wasn’t as happy.

Stephanie’s always had either a hint of sadness or a bit if mischief.

But Cass. Cass had a clear, happy smile. It affected everyone, making them happy as well. It was occasionally a sad, comforting smile. It was sometimes a mischievous smirk.

But on Christmas day, she smiled more brightly than before.

How Jason wished he could be as happy as her.

“Jason! It’s time to eat dinner!” Steph called from the kitchen.

“ **Get out of the kitchen right now, and don’t touch anything!** ” Jason yelled.

“Well sor-ry!” Steph apologized without any hint of genuineness.

Jason ignored her as he rushed into the kitchen. He took everything and prepared it just perfectly making it just so as he placed it onto the table.

“Dinner’s ready!” he called, causing a wave of people to show up within moments.

”CAKE!!!” Richard yelled upon seeing the dessert resting on the table.

“Yes, cake for everyone except you.”

“But Jason-”

“Only for people who aren’t hyper.” 

“If I’m calm, can I have some?” 

“Yes, but only if you’re calm.” 

So Richard spent the rest of dinner sulking until he got his cake. Jason observed everyone else. Tim seemed to enjoy the meal. Damian actually must’ve enjoyed he day because he wasn’t scowling as much. Steph and Cass were bubbling with laughter. Barbara had left back to the Commissioner halfway through the day, but Jason had sent her a portion of the food.

They all seemed to be having a good Christmas.

Good.

If only their smiles were as bright as Cass.

Soon, they had all left the room, and Jason was left to clean up after their mess. Of course. Didn’t his brothers have any sense of responsibility? 

Tim at least stayed behind to clear his plate. 

“Jason?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks for making everything able to happen,” Tim smiled at him, but the smile quickly faded. “I’m sorry you didn’t have much fun.” 

“What’re you talking about?” Jason asked. “I had an amazing time.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, really.” 

Tim smiled again. “Good.” Suddenly, Jason found himself in another awkward hug. “I’m glad you liked Christmas.” 

Jason couldn’t help the smile. Tim was just so tiny, it made him want to hold him there and protect him forever. He couldn’t resist, and he found himself hugging Tim back. 

“I’m glad you enjoyed Christmas too.” 

“I’m glad you came back to the manor.” 

Jason ruffled Tim’s hair. It was fluffier than it looked. 

“Come on. You need sleep; you look dead.” 

And so Jason dragged Tim up the steps and forced him to actually go to sleep. Jason couldn’t help but make sure to check on everyone else as well. Everything was peaceful, and it left him with the hope that everything could be better. 

Maybe sometime, they would all smile like Cass.


End file.
